寻找薇薇安·迈尔

She just had those edges that couldn’t
或者我把自己讲得太好了
and I think we well, I flatter myself.
我觉得我们是她待过的家庭里
I think we were one of the most sympathetic, accepting,
最同情她 最理解她和最有缘分的
and congenial families that she worked with.
我不知道 我相信是这样
I don’t know that. I think it may be true.
但我们依然难以为继
And we couldn’t make it work.
1996年 我们准备出♥售♥我母亲的房♥子时
In 1996, we were getting my mother’s house ready for sale,
我告诉薇薇安说
and when I told Vivian, I said,
“你可以在这里住几个月
“You can stay here for a couple of months.
“我不会马上卖♥♥掉房♥子
“I won’t put it on the market yet.
“我们得先安置好
“You know, we have to get things ready,
“所以我不会赶你
“and, you know, I’m not kicking you out.
“你可以留下来”
“You can stay.”
薇薇安留在那里 当成介绍房♥子的人
Vivian was to be there, you know, and to show it,
但她没有实际招呼想买♥♥♥房♥♥子的人
but she was not at all helpful with the real estate people.
她竟然不让他们参观
She just didn’t want to let them in.
他们打电♥话♥给我说
They were calling me saying
她不让他们参观房♥子
she won’t let them show the house, you know.
“你想想办法吧 茱蒂”
“You’ve got to do something, Judy?
所以我打电♥话♥给薇薇安
So I would call her and say,”Vivian, you know,
“你必须让人家看♥房♥♥子”
you have to let people see the house.”
他们后来看了 确定要买♥♥
They did manage to get in, and they did manage to sell.
我觉得已近圣诞年底
I think we closed the last day of the year.
律师来了电♥话♥ “茱蒂 我们很担心
The lawyer called and said, “Judy, we’re just afraid
“她不搬出去”
“she’s not gonna be out.”
我说 “她会搬出去的
And I said, “She’ll be out.
“别担心 她会搬出去的”
“Don’t worry. She will be out.”
我最后一次见到她 现在还有点不愉快
The last time I saw her, um, I’m still unhappy about.
大约是2000年
It must have been, like, probably 2000.
我在威尔梅特准备跟我女儿
I was in Wilmette, going to the beach with my daughter,
她的孩子 和四个朋友的孩子去海边
her children, and four other children of a friend’s.
很热的夏天 像8月天
It was a hot summer day, like August,
天气酷热 突然间
like ‘100 degree day, and all of a sudden,
我看到这个女人走在街上
I see this woman walking down the street,
马上就发现 “那是薇薇安”
and immediately we’re like, “There’s Vivian.”
我30年没看到她了
I hadn’t seen her in 30 years,
但我们立刻认出彼此
but we recognized each other at once.
我们都打了招呼 “你”
And we both, “Hi.”
“薇薇安 你好” “卡萝 你好”
“How are you, Vivian?” and “How are you, Carole?”
“好久不见”
And “it’s been so long.”
“看到你真是太好了”
We’re like, “Well, it was great, you know, to see you.”
然后我们说 “有事先走了”
And we said, “We have to get going.”
她冒了一句 “请别走”
And she was like, “Please don’t leave.”
她就说 “卡萝”
You know, she was like, “Carole”
这是我母亲的名字
you know, my mother’s name.
她就说 “卡萝 请别走”
“She was like, “Carole, please don’t leave.”
你正巧带着一群孩子
You know, when you’re with a bunch of kids
他们在你身边转来转去
and they’re swirling around you
吵着要去海边
and they want to go to the beach
又是炎热夏天 实在叫人不知所措
and it’s a hot summer day, you know, you’re, like, stuck.
她一直说 “跟我说话
And she kept saying, “Talk to me.
“我们聊一聊 我们说说话”
“Let’s talk. Let’s talk.”
我只是说 “对不起 薇薇安
And I kept saying, “I can’t do it, Vivian.
“我该走了 我该走了”
“I have to go. I have to go.”
她说 “但你是我的朋友
She kept saying, “But you’re my friend.
“你是我的朋友”
“You’re my friend.”
我辜负了她
And, um, I dropped the ball.
我只能这样说
That’s all I can say.
我感觉很差劲
I feel badly about it
眼看朋友的声音透出绝望
and the despair in her voice about seeing a friend,
我觉得我让她失望了
and I feel that I let her down.
我仍带着孩子们去海边
So I proceeded to go to the beach with the kids.
我说 “一起去吧” 但她不愿意
I said, “Follow us,” but she didn’t want to do that,
所以就这样了
so that was the end of that one.
我记得有一次
I do remember once
她没跟我们讲要去哪
she wouldn’t tell me where we were going.
我不会告诉你们 这是个惊喜”
“I don’t want to tell you. It’s a surprise.”
她带我去了屠宰场的牲畜圈
She took me to the stockyards.
这出乎我的意料
It didn’t come into my consciousness that,
“这是人们准备宰杀牲畜的地方”
“Well, this is where they go to kill the animals.”
有一辆满载绵羊的拖车
There was a trailer full of sheep.
我还记得那些家伙让它们走下长长斜坡
I do remember guys poking at them with sticks
拿着棍子去戳它们
to get them out down this long ramp.
他们卸下绵羊后
After they were done offloading the sheep,
他们开始抛弃一只死掉的绵羊
they started throwing out a dead sheep,
一只给践踏而死的绵羊
one that got trampled.
这是我第一次面对死亡
That was the first time lever saw death.
如今回顾 并没有给我造成困扰
Looking back, thinking about it, it didn’t bother me.
但有件奇怪的事 我始终搞不清楚
It was just kind of odd.I couldn’t understand it.
我是个牧民
I’ve always been a critter person,
这些是我的绵羊群
and these are my guys, the sheep.
她为我工作那时
The end of her life was something that I worried about
我担心她晚年的事
when she worked for me.
我在想 “她的生命会如何了结呢”
I thought, “How can this end for her?”
我不认为她会善终
I don’t think it had a happy ending.
我非常高兴这些小时候
I was very glad that these men that she took care of
被她照顾过的男孩
when they were little kids
算是拯救了她
kind of came to her rescue.
他们弄了一间公♥寓♥给她 帮她付房♥租
They got her an apartment and paid for her rent.
迈尔
你住这一带吗
Do you live in the area?
是啊
Yeah, I live in the area.
你可记得常常坐在这里
Do you remember a woman who used to sit on this bench a lot,
戴宽边帽子的一个女人呢
wearing a big floppy hat?
是不是一个法国女人
Um, was she the French lady?
我记得她
Yeah, I remember her.
住这一带的人
People who still, um, live around here,
都会记得她吧
yeah, we remember her.
她常常坐在这里的长椅
She was here a lot, sitting on the bench,
但我不知道有没有人跟她聊天
but I don’t think anybody really talked to her.
这附近常常有着古怪的人
There’s a lot of eccentric people around here,
我觉得她正是其中之一
and I just thought she was one of them.
还是远离为妙
You knew to just leave her alone.
有时候她出现在垃圾放置站
Sometimes she’d be at the dumpsters.
如果你问她 “需要帮忙或需要食物吗”
You’d ask her, you know, “Do you need help or do you need food?”
她会用法语跟你大吼大叫
And she would just kind of yell at you in French.
你怎会认识她
How did you know her?
从邻居里就看过她啦
Just from seeing her in the neighborhood.
你会和她坐一起吗
And you would sit with her?
我常常坐在长椅上的
Well, I’d always sit on the bench,
她也会坐下来
and she’d sit there,
但是要过好长一段时间
and finally it took weeks or months
她才开始跟我说话
before she’d even speak to me.
我看到她一直在巷子里
I would see her in the alley all the time,
翻着垃圾
going through the garbage,
所以有回我把一捆旧衣服和一顶羊毛帽子
so I had a bunch of old clothes and a wool hat one time
给了她 她拿走啦
I gave her, and she took it.
她说 “太好了
She said, “That’s great.
“我睡觉时可以戴着它”
“I’ll wear that when I sleep.”
她很难与人相处
She was very short with people,
但她很是有趣
but she was funny, though.
挺好的女士
Nice lady.
我骑单车时 有时经过她的小路
When I was riding my bike, sometimes I’d cross her path,
她会冲着我大叫 “按铃啊 按铃啊”
and she’d yell to me,”Get a bell! Get a bell!”
冬天有时路过小巷
And sometimes I’d be outin the alley in the winter
她看到我没戴帽子
and she’d see me without a hat,
她会喊”戴个帽子 戴个帽子”
and she’d yell,”Get a hat! Get a hat!”
她总会想起单车上的铃铛
She was about that bellon the bike.
谁会晓得她其实是个伟大的艺术家
Who would have known that she was actually a great artist
却会去垃圾回收站
and she’d cometo dumpsterdiving?
最令人伤感的是
That’s the saddest